10th May 2018 13:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Next PLC said Thursday that full-price sales were up 6.0% year-on-year in its first quarter, driven by a strong performance in online sales.
Shares in the company were trading 7.4% higher at 5,634.00 pence each.
The clothing and homewares retailer reported that online sales rose by 18% in the 14 weeks to this past Monday, while retail sales were down by 4.8%.
Sales were "better than expected" standing at GBP40 million ahead of the company's forecast, due to the recent warm weather in the UK. The "overperfomance" added GBP12 million to the company's full year profit.
Next said it is now expecting sales for its full financial ending January 26, 2019 to grow 2.2%. The company had previously expected a growth by 1.0%. Annual pretax profit is expected to be GBP717 million, up from its previous guidance of GBP705 million but down from GBP726.1 million in financial 2018.
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